budget traveling this July. Am I crazy?

Here's the thing.
This is my one and only shot for me to go to Europe (ticket paid). I'm from South East Asia and the ticket is so incredibly and insanely expensive(at least for me). I've read some posts and all saying one thing: Summer means expensive and lots of tourists. I have 3 weeks to spend in July and I have plan to visit:

Netherland (Maastricht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam: for North Sea Jazz Festival :-))
Germany (Cologne, Munich, Nurnberg, Freiburg)
Austria (Salzburg, Vienna)
France (Paris)

All major cities, I know. Is my budget of 50 euros per day will do? (incl. hostel, food, transportation and tickets to museums).
Thank you for helping folks!

50 Eur is not much, but it's possible. Buy a small tent and a sleeping bag. Camping is the cheapest way to spend a night, for about 10 Eur you'll get a place. Try to share a car with other travelers for transportation. See on website www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de . For food and drinks you'll need min. 15$.
Good luck - Asia is much cheaper
Costaklaus

Hi Nefertiti
How nice you are coming to Europe, to bad you are not coming to Sweden :)
Of course there are a lot of tourists here, a lot of americans but mostly europeans. There are a lot of tourist not going abroad, so a lot of German tourists in Germany for example. I don't think it will be so much more expensive in the summer. Unless you are going for the coasts. But not a problem with the countries you are going for.
Have you checked how expensive the festival is? I think you should try to find a hostel before you get there. If there is a festival, then it could be expensive to find a bed.
I don't think 50 euros per day is a big problem, I usually live on 60 euro per day in western europe. Then I'm staying in hostels, eat breakfast at the hostel, but eat out in cheap places twice a day. A lot of people make dinner at the hostels, and perhaps have a pick-nick in a park. If you wanna live cheaper then eastern europe is cheaper. But if you are going for Netherlands of course you should see Paris as well.
Some people love couchsurfing you save money and meet people. Have you descided on the counties/towns you wanna go to, or is it just a suggestion?

Hi again

hostels in europe if you can't find a hostel in the town you are going to, try to send an e-mail to the tourist info center in the town, and ask if they have some cheap place. Don't come to a town in the evening without a place to stay, then you might have to take an expensive hotel. Taxis are pretty expensive in europe so try to go by bus or metros in the towns. I said I live on 60 euro per day, but I'm not a party guy, so if you wanna go to a disco and drink a lot of alcohol it could be verry expensive.
How do you plane to travel around? There is a card you can buy so you could travel free on the railways but I think it's cheaper to go by bus or buy a trainticket.
Sometimes you can find cheap flights between the cities, for example ryanair and easyjet . It's verry different prices on different days, and they will charge you taxes and extra if you bring your big backpack so be careful. A bus company who goes in a lot of places in europe is eurolines . Perhaps not between all the towns where you wanna go, but it give you a hint of the prices.
Are you a student? bring your student card. A lot of places have student discounts, museums and transport for example.

Hi,

Like costaklaus said you can better go camping. The downside of that is that campgrounds are often a bit out the city center. If you have to take the public transport to the city to much you maybe better of looking for a cheap hostel.
Eurolines is probably the cheapest way around, but if you look in time for cheap flights you might be lucky. But July is high season

Good luck and enjoy Europe..

The first link in #3 only covers a tiny fraction of the hostels. Example they list 4 towns in Denmark with hostels!!!! The organization www.danhostel.dk has alone hostels at some 75 locations in that country!! In Sweden and Norway it is even worse (I am aware that you are not going there - but the situation isn't much different in other countries).
In addition Hostelworld sometimes charges extra compared to booking directly at the hostels homepage.
Try to locate both the national Hostel organisation and look for the links at the officieal tourist offices homepage for the city/town/country in question (to find the private hostels).

Re your budget. Be prepared to have to eat picknick food most of the time. And then you say that it should cover transport: hopefuly not between places, but only local in the towns visited? And some entrance fees may be VERY high (10€) and limit you.

Thank you so much you guys. I would need to stay in the center tough since I would do a lot of museum going.Hopefully all will goes well there.

Cheers,
Eve

In some towns you can buy a tourist-card, then you could take local buses and go for free to the most museums. It's a lot of towns you will visit in 3 weeks. Of course you want to see as much as possible, but perhas you should go for less towns and see more of them. Then it will be cheaper because you don't have to take so many buses.

I would not even venture to try it on 50 euros per day.

50 euros per day is definitely doable if you don't include accommodation. A night in a hostel in many major cities will run you between 20-30 euros, which doesn't leave much for anything else. Fortunately, you can see and experience a lot just by walking around. If you're a student and have an ISIC card, you may also be able to get some discounts on admission to various museums etc. Tourist cards can often be quite expensive, especially for a tight budget.

The OP said;<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Is my budget of 50 euros per day will do? (incl. hostel, food, transportation and tickets to museums).<hr></blockquote>#10 said;<blockquote>Quote
<hr>50 euros per day is definitely doable if you don't include accommodation.<hr></blockquote> The one contradicts the other.

I'm sorry, I hate to be negative, but this itinerary is impossible on the basis of €50 per day including accommodation, transportation from north west to south east europe, food and 'various museums'. It might just be doable if the OP stuck to a very tight geographical area and tried to take advantage of free days in museums. Otherwise, no chance.

Did any of you ever take a class is basic math ??
21 days at 50 euro = 1050 Euro
Eurail pass 21 days = 469 Euro (highspeed surcharges not included !!)
NorthSea Jazz ticket = 170 Euro (food and drinks not included !!)

This leaves 150 euro/week to eat and sleep.
Impossible I'm sorry

Consider doing 3 weeks in Holland (for NorthSeaJazz, if thats your thing) in stead of 3 weeks on the train.
Camp out in the Westland area and cycle to towns like Den Haag, Rotterdam, Delft, Gouda, Schiedam
I might even think a better way to experiance Europe, than rushing from city to city.

Ferdinand

Oh, and if, as I'm assuming, the OP is flying into/out of Paris that adds further to the transport costs because of the doubling back involved.

Assuming you start and end in Paris: Get yourself to Holland either with a Thalys special (if you can get any) or eurolines. Preferraby, you are on an open jaw already, starting your trip in the Netherlands and ending it in Paris.

50Euro a day for all is not a lot of money but can be done if you are very frugal.

One way to economize is to cut down on travel cost.

Get a Bahn.de special from A-Dam to Cologne and another one to Munich via Nürnberg for 29 Euro (if you can get it) (book online now, early departure in Cologne, spend the day in Nürnberg [you have to tell the site how many hours you want], go to Munich at night so it is all on one ticket). The special is only valid on a specific train and will only be available whenever there is low demand, so you have to travel at times other people won't - or you don't get the deal.

Drop Freiburg, it is out of the way. Anyway, you have too many cities for three weeks IMHO anyway. It is nice - but still out of the way and 50 Euro a day is not much.

From Munich to Salzburg you can share a ride on a Bayern Ticket with other people. Meet them ad hoc in front of the regional train going to Salzburg at the station (valid until Salzburg Hbf even though that is in Austria).

From Salzburg to Vienna spend the day breaking your journey in Linz, very nice town, beautiful too. Don't know anything about Austrian train specials.

From Vienna take SkyEurope to Paris. Flights at the end of July are available from 40€.

Re NSJ: if you really want to go, get tickets now, as it nearly always sells out. Food and drinks are not cheap inside! A day pass is €70,-.

Agree with above posters that there is no way you'll be able to visit 10(!) different cities on that budget. Check out a map, the distances might be longer than you now think and travelling is expensive, esp. in summer.

But aside from your budget-issues you are trying to do way too much. 10 cities in 21 days in madness, even if you could afford to fly. Limit yourself to a max of 3 cities, that will save you a lot of money on travelling too.

The museums in the Netherlands and many other places aren't free. The Van Gogh museum and the Rijksmuseum are €10, the Anne Frank House is €7,50. The Louvre is €8,50, Musée d'Orsay is €7,50. A cup of coffee in a café will be around €1,70 - €2,50 in the Netherlands, as will a softdrink. If you buy all your food from the supermarket, cook for yourself and others (it's always cheaper to cook for more than 1) and not eat or drink out at all, you could spend as little as €5-€10 a day on food in the Netherlands, I suppose.

Good luck and have fun!

accomodation will be the greatest expense. To save on that, try to trust people and check out either www.couchsurfing.com or www.hospitalityclub.org. No obligations, but great fun. After all, meeting locals is usually the greatest experience in exploring a country, and since you are visiting major cities only, therre plenty of hosts who offer a place to stay.

OP, I have to agree with some of the others - I don't believe your trip is possible on €50.00 / day, especially as this amount includes transportation and Museum admissions. Given that you'll be travelling in peak tourist season, budgeting for reservation charges on the trains will also be necessary. One rail trip (ie: Paris - Munich) would probably require more than the daily funds you have available.

I normally plan my travel budgets on the basis of "daily expenses" which includes lodgings, food and incidentals (such as admissions). A realistic amount for this would be about €80-90 IMHO. This daily amount does not include transportation (rail passes & reservations for high speed or ICE trains, metro charges or budget air fares).

As you stated this is a "one shot" trip for you, I would try and find some additional funds (talk to your friendly Bank Manager) so that you can make the trip a reality and have a realistic amount of money available.

Good luck!!!